Sous cloche brings together Wytske van Keulen’s photographic observations of Saskia and Andrez, two remarkable figures living a secluded life in the rugged mountain landscape of the French Pyrenees. Made over an extensive period of time, this precise selection of still-lifes, portraits and landscapes offers an intimate view of both protagonists, who never met in person. The sequence is interspersed with short personal notes written by the photographer.

Wytske van Keulen (b. 1982 in Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands) portrays people who, for disparate reasons, live their lives as outsiders. Her distinctive method of documenting – at once plain and empathetic – nevertheless resists the stubborn tendency toward marginalisation, whether emanating from society or from solitude. Both movements are revealed as a symptom of existential helplessness. On closer inspection, the position of the outsider can seldom be attributed to either voluntary withdrawal or imposed exclusion. It is necessary to breach this dichotomy and consider the existing condition in all its complexity and subtlety.